The Twitter Hug Shirt Is Creepy

Not all Twitter clothes are creepy. These “Follow Me” Twitter stockings aren’t creepy, they’re just shameless self-promotion. And the Fail Whale necklace is kind of cute. But when there’s a device that you attach to your clothes that tweets for you every time you are hugged, that’s just shameful. I get annoyed when people have conversations on Twitter (that’s what text messaging is for!), so I can’t imagine if people started wearing this device and overused it to the max by hugging people all day just to tweet about it.

But really, what makes it creepy is this quote from the inventor, Celina Alvarado, when she presented the Twitter hugging device at the Maker Faire:

“I let them hold it. I just supported them. They would decide when to stop. When to let me go. I felt I was theirs. For a moment or two. Or more. Some made me close my eyes and just feel their arms around me.”

I love hugs too, don’t get me wrong, but not from 450 random people all day. That’s just desperate. And calling attention from it via Twitter seems even a little more desperate.